Not So Happily Ever After

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, we learn of a woman’s unhappiness in her marriage. Typically, women are viewed as the ones to hold a marriage together. They care for all the families needs. Most women view that once they are married, they must stick with it no matter what unexpected events the future holds. Often women experience hardships in their marriage, even when they are not fully aware of it. Mrs. Mallard, a typical married woman but with heart trouble, was informed that her husband had been killed in a railroad accident. When she was informed of the news, she reacted in a way that was normal at first by grieving, but then decided she would rather deal with this news in private. She wanted to grieve alone, but instead of grieving this turned into a joyous occurrence for her.

Evidently, Mrs. Mallard was unhappy with her current marriage and it took news of her husband’s passing to help her realize this. To many women news of this sort would be absolutely devastating. Of course, she grieved for the loss of her husband, but she began repeating “free, free, free!” (200). She had time to concentrate on what her life might be like without her husband, and she liked the thoughts although she felt some guilt for not being entirely sad about it.

As she continued thinking about what kind of life she could live and the thought of her living it as she wanted without anyone to tell her any different, she was soon interrupted by her sister knocking at the door. Josephine wanted to console Louise not knowing the Louise did not need consoling. She came out of the room with her sister by her side feeling empowered and like a new woman. Little did she know that this new life she had been given was about to be taken away from her. Her husband walked in the door, and at that moment Louise died because she knew at that point she would be forced to go back to her miserable life. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy the kills” (200). So, in the end even though she herself died, she was still free from her marriage.

The thought that she was blind to her unhappiness during her marriage is possible and clear to me. When you are in a marriage you become somewhat comfortable in what happens on a daily basis. You become accustomed to the treatment you receive from your husband, the duties that you perform as a wife, and the strain that a marriage can bring. You can get so wrapped up in the same occurrences that they become normal to you, and you do not even realize your own happiness anymore.


Sipiora, Phillip. "The Story of an Hour." Reading and Writing about Literature. Pearson Education, Inc., 2002. 199-200.